What to Do When You’re Feeling Stressed

Negative mental, emotional, or physical events cause a biological reaction in humans, which is commonly known as stress. Even though it’s your body’s response to certain stimuli, experiencing persistent stress for a long period of time can cause a variety of physical and mental health conditions.

This is one of the reasons why learning how to manage your stress is extremely important. Besides reducing the physical impact it has on your body, you can also help prevent depression and other mental issues that can lower your quality of life quality.

In this article, we’ll provide a few tips to help you manage stress and relieve some of the tension that comes with stressful situations.

The Impact of Stress on Your Health

When your body feels stressed, it triggers its “flight or fight” response, which starts a complex chain reaction in your endocrinologic and neurologic systems. While this reaction can help keep our species alive, prolonged exposure to stress can result in a number of health problems.

Stress can cause changes in your brain structure and result in problems that affect cognitive functions such as memory and learning. It can also weaken your immune system and produce severe gastrointestinal complications, especially in people that have IBD.

6 Tips to Help You Cope with Stress

Different people cope with stress in different ways. That said, some of these habits may be less than healthy, so it’s important to take an approach that won’t affect your well-being. Here are some tips to help you cope with stress in a more effective way.

Start By Identifying the Source

The first thing you need to do before deciding what steps you’re going to take is to identify the source of your stress. In some cases, the source of your stress will be obvious. There are other scenarios where the underlying problem is not easy. If you’re having a hard time figuring out what exactly is causing the negative effect, you should consider seeking guidance from a mental health specialist.

Create a List of Goals You Want to Achieve

The general goal will likely be to lower your stress levels, but you should create a set of specific objectives you want to achieve. This will help you stay focused when things get tough and remind you why you’re taking the steps to relieve the negative emotions you’re experiencing.

Be Reasonably Selfish

Taking care of other people’s problems can elevate your stress levels, especially if you don’t pay attention to your own needs. Helping others will be extremely challenging if you are facing problems on your own. In these cases, you should be reasonably selfish and overcome your own challenges before trying to help anyone else.

Surround Yourself with Supportive Friends and Family

Having a supportive group of people around you will also help you relieve stress. By talking with your friends and family, you’ll be able to vent, listen to other angles, and come up with solutions that help reduce your stress levels permanently.

Exercise and Physical Activity

According to the American Psychological Association, regular exercise and physical activity can help reduce stress. Not only this, but getting fit can also help you lose weight and look your best. Which, in turn, can help boost your self-confidence in a natural way.

Meditate and Learn How to Spend Time on Your Own

A lot of people that experience high stress levels prefer to stay busy and avoid thinking about their problems. This can have a detrimental effect on your mental health and cause anxiety whenever you have to spend time by yourself.

Get the Best Gear to Stay Fit

The tips above should help you manage your stress in a healthy way. If you need help getting into a healthier routine or starting an exercise regime, get in touch with us and we’ll be glad to help.
